Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Wireless service providers operate efficiently when they deploy their resources in an optimal or near-optimal manner. Optimizing wireless networks, such as cellular, sensor, or mesh networks, means selecting the position and the capabilities of certain wireless nodes in order to minimize cost and maximize the network performance. Problems of computing a set of locations to optimize a given objective have been studied in logistics and industrial engineering already. The goal in such a context is to locate facilities to provide equitable service to clients, to minimize the transportation cost, or to capture the largest market share. However, the performance of wireless networks depends on specific factors, such as interference and radio propagation, not considered relevant for industrial operations. This research proposes to design and solve location problems that accurately reflect the behaviour of wireless networks in order to better support the planning decisions of service providers.